News that Evil Eye had accepted the challenge began to spread through Azure City and even the entire Azure Domain.
Luo Feng, the man at the center of it all, remained remarkably relaxed. He paid little attention to the talk outside. First, he went to the Thousand Treasures Pavilion and spent all two thousand Qiankun Units he had on that Primary Time Heart.
He wanted the Time Heart mainly to see whether it could help him grasp the mysteries of the Time Origin. Two thousand Qiankun Units for a chance was an investment Luo Feng was willing to make.
After obtaining the Time Heart, Luo Feng returned to the residence he had bought in Azure City and settled into cultivation.
"Morosa, I need to refine the Time Heart over the next few days. Don't let anyone disturb me," Luo Feng instructed.
"Yes, Master," Morosa replied.
Morosa was his Soul Slave, so Luo Feng could trust him.
Once inside the residence, Luo Feng entered the Star Tower and sat down cross-legged.
The Time Heart was about the size of a football, an oval crystal of vivid blue. Countless tiny facets covered its surface, each bearing golden secret patterns. As it floated before Luo Feng, he could easily sense that time flowed differently across its surface than in the surrounding space—faster in some places, slower in others.
"The Time Heart truly is extraordinary." Luo Feng marveled. Experiencing its effects firsthand was far more striking than reading a description, and he could hardly wait to refine it.
Time Hearts, Space Hearts, and Spacetime Hearts were all refined the same way. The process was simple: envelop the crystal with soul power and let that power seep inside. Once refinement was complete, the crystal itself would crumble into powder.
Carefully, Luo Feng shaped his soul power into a great maw and swallowed the Time Heart whole.
Threads of soul power began to seep into it.
In an instant—
Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!
Luo Feng clearly felt strands of strange power pass through his soul power and slowly merge with his soul.
That power was extraordinarily sensitive to fluctuations in time. It even caused time to flow at different rates around his soul.
Luo Feng could feel his perception of the Time Law improving at a noticeable rate.
"Marvelous. Wonderful!" Luo Feng could not help exclaiming. The sensation was even stranger, and far stronger, than when he had fused with that Space Origin treasure in the Primal Universe Ancestral God Secret Realm.
The fluctuations of time were exceptionally strong. As he refined the crystal, his true body perceived the Time Law almost as if his consciousness were within the Origin Sea of the Primal Universe. The law seemed to manifest before him, its nature plain to see.
Luo Feng had long since mastered the Time Law. His next step was to comprehend the mysteries of the Time Origin.
But an Origin was vastly more complex and profound than a law. A law was only its outward manifestation. Seeing that exterior revealed what it was, not what lay within. Unraveling its inner nature was millions of times harder.
Luo Feng did not think a single Time Heart would let him penetrate the mysteries of the Time Origin. But it improved his chances, and that made the steep price worthwhile.
Time passed. Strands of strange power from the Time Heart continued to merge with Luo Feng's soul.
Finally—
Just as the third day began, the last strand of strange power flowed from the Time Heart into Luo Feng's soul. A crack rang out, and fractures spread across the crystal. Then, with a bang, the football-sized Time Heart broke into countless specks of dust and vanished into the air.
Luo Feng opened his eyes, a satisfied smile on his face.
"As expected of a Time Heart. This feels like the affinity the Mosha Clan has with space." Luo Feng was stunned. He had the sense that he could use the Time Law even if he had never comprehended it, as naturally as a fish moved through water.
Yet despite how closely his soul now resonated with the Time Law, Luo Feng still felt that comprehending the mysteries of the Time Origin would be extremely difficult. Fusing with the Time Heart had only improved his odds; he still had no idea where to begin.
"The mysteries of an Origin... It seems one Time Heart isn't enough." Luo Feng shook his head.
He had managed to comprehend the mysteries of the Destruction Origin partly because he could study a World Beast's Origin technique, and partly because he had witnessed the Great Annihilation of the Primal Universe from close range. The universe's destruction had been driven chiefly by the Destruction Origin, giving him something close to direct contact with its mysteries.
The Origin Power within the Primal Universe's Origin Sea sustained the universe's existence. It could manifest as the power of laws to maintain the universe's operation, but understanding its inner mysteries was another matter entirely. The Primal Universe Origin Will could control Origin Power not because it understood those mysteries, but because the Supreme Rule had granted it that ability.
Luo Feng himself had now taken the place of the Primal Universe Origin Will and could control Origin Power. But to truly understand what he was wielding was billions of times harder.
Comprehending the mysteries of an Origin was exceedingly difficult.
For someone who had seized control of the Primal Universe Origin Will, reaching the Saint Realm was no great challenge. Becoming a God King, however, was far harder. A God King had to comprehend the mysteries of all ten Origins. Only then could the Chaos Space within his body evolve into a Miniature Universe.
Without Origins, there could be no universe.
Behind every universe stood the support of the ten Origins within its Origin Space.
Now that Luo Feng had refined the Time Heart, he still felt that comprehending an Origin was a distant prospect.
Luo Feng had mastered all ten fundamental laws. To advance further, he could either fuse laws or comprehend the mysteries of an Origin. With the Time Heart's help, the Time Origin seemed his best chance, yet he still had no clue where to start.
Fusing laws was just as difficult.
Following the methods of the Duandong River Lineage, Luo Feng had begun by trying to fuse five fundamental laws. He would then incorporate the other five one by one, ultimately forming the Chaos Law.
Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth were the fundamental laws underlying chaos. They were relatively easier to fuse than Time, Space, Wind, Thunder and Lightning, and Light. If he could completely fuse the five fundamental laws, adding the other five to form the Chaos Law would be much easier.
Anyone who could fuse those five fundamental laws was certain to reach the Saint Realm.
Luo Feng could already fuse any three of the five, such as Metal, Wood, and Water; Metal, Fire, and Earth; or Metal, Water, and Earth. He had only just begun attempting a fourth, but he had made some progress: he could partially fuse Metal, Wood, Water, and Earth.
Sometimes, though, improving his strength required him to fuse other laws before he was ready. Luo Feng could currently fuse six laws, but when he tried to add a seventh, the difficulty soared.
If I can fuse seven laws, my strength will rise another step, Luo Feng thought.
In the Origin Sea, Luo Feng's consciousness easily entered the Primordial Boundary Tablet, where he contemplated its incomparably profound and complex Law Secret Patterns;
in the Inheritance Space, his Divine Power Avatar worked tirelessly to combine the laws under Ten Thousand Times Time Acceleration.
Having refined the Time Heart, Luo Feng felt he could also try to comprehend the mysteries of the Time Origin alongside his work on fusing laws.
He had one epoch left and was using every moment to improve his strength.
Time passed...
"Hm? Zhan Tianxing, master of the Celestial Star Pavilion? He wants to see me?" Luo Feng's true body opened its eyes inside the residence.
Morosa had just sent him a message.
Zhan Tianxing seems to be human too, but I've never had anything to do with him. Why does he suddenly want to see me? Luo Feng wondered. He rose and left the Star Tower.
"Bring him in," Luo Feng told Morosa.
Soon, Zhan Tianxing followed Morosa into the residence. He was tall, with a handsome face and pure white wings.
"So you're Galaxy?" Zhan Tianxing studied Luo Feng. He seemed like an ordinary Eternal True God, with nothing remarkable about him—perhaps around the fifth tier. Zhan Tianxing frowned.
Luo Feng noticed his expression and merely smiled. "Did you come to see me about something, Pavilion Master?"
Thanks to Formless and Faceless, Luo Feng could disguise himself as a fifth-tier Eternal True God. Even a Saint-level expert would take him for one, let alone Zhan Tianxing, who was only an Eternal True God.
"You're only at the fifth tier of the Eternal True God level, yet you dared to challenge Evil Eye?" Zhan Tianxing did not think he had misjudged Luo Feng, but even as he spoke, something felt wrong. "Unless... you're stronger than I am?"
Luo Feng smiled. "Are you concerned for me, Pavilion Master, or trying to sound me out for Evil Eye?"
He remained somewhat wary.
"Rest assured, I'm not one of Evil Eye's people. I came only to warn you. If you're merely at the fifth tier, I advise you to withdraw from the fight. You're human too. I don't care where you came from, but I don't want you to fall to Evil Eye. His strength is beyond anything you imagine." Zhan Tianxing shook his head.
Only after spending a long time around Evil Eye had he gradually discovered how terrifying he was.
Outsiders knew only that Evil Eye's Soul Illusion was powerful. His close-combat attacks were just as frightening.
Luo Feng's expression softened slightly. He had not expected Zhan Tianxing to come out of concern for him as a fellow human.
"Does Pavilion Master Zhan know something about Evil Eye's abilities?" Luo Feng asked.
Zhan Tianxing shook his head, his face grave. "I don't know the full extent of his abilities, but I do know something important."
"Within the last Era of Reincarnation, Evil Eye killed a Saint-level expert. Below the Saint Realm, he is absolutely invincible!"